I'm hoping and guessing that the quantity of nanoparticles used would not be enough that if they got flushed (or flooded or tsunamied) into water outside the facility that it would not start boiling water and everything in it.

quatchi:...metalic nanoparticles illuminated by light can be brought to 212 degrees Fahrenheit, the boiling point of water, much faster than water.

Wait, what?

Using new nanoparticle technology to enhance already existent steam powered tech makes it work more efficiently?

That actually *is* interesting.

Make it so.

OH LOOK!If we toss hots rocks in the water, the water around the rocks will get REALLY hot and some of it will turn to steam./yes, I realize that higher surface area of the nano-particles = more steam, but still

Well, more like they boiled water in very specific way, by raising the temperature of bits of it fast enough that it doesn't raise the temperature of the rest before it boils, reducing the overall energy cost and increasing the controllability of the process.

Meh,the nanoparticles cannot heat the water any more efficiently than the amount of sunlight they can absorb. Crowd them in too much in solution and they shadow themselves, even if sunlight is set up to be multidirectional. Too sparse and not enough return on steam.

Maybe the best way would be to embed those nanoparticles in a solid state matrix, arranged densely under a transparent layer with a thin flow of water between.

WorldCitizen:I'm hoping and guessing that the quantity of nanoparticles used would not be enough that if they got flushed (or flooded or tsunamied) into water outside the facility that it would not start boiling water and everything in it.

Otherwise, sounds cool.

THIS

Before you build something like this, figure out how to turn it off. Remember the lessons of ICE 9.

MBA Whore:Could someone who is smrt in science stuff explain this in simple words and mba could comprehend?

There's a constant flow of energy coming from the Sun, which doesn't really change. While we've known for millennia that we can concentrate and focus it -- mirrors, lenses, whatever -- apparently someone's just invented some stuff that'll get hotter than you'd expect it would when it sees electromagnetic energy such as sunlight, hot enough to vaporize water surrounding its tiny little volume, even though the rest of the water's not quite as warm.

prjindigo:Did they mention the nanoparticles are toxic to blood based life and carcinogenic as well?

Didn't think so.

Well no one's going to be ingesting the stuff. The water that turns to steam separates from the particle before it leaves the nano-boiling water, so the water you boil is still as clean as normal steam. You just have to make sure that the nano-solution doesn't escape its container and somehow enter a water supply. It's a real danger but it's certainly not something they wouldn't take precautions to prevent.

dehehn:prjindigo: Did they mention the nanoparticles are toxic to blood based life and carcinogenic as well?

Didn't think so.

Well no one's going to be ingesting the stuff. The water that turns to steam separates from the particle before it leaves the nano-boiling water, so the water you boil is still as clean as normal steam. You just have to make sure that the nano-solution doesn't escape its container and somehow enter a water supply. It's a real danger but it's certainly not something they wouldn't take precautions to prevent.

The only use I can see is local water purification. It should be a bit more efficient than a full scale solar collector as you wouldnt have to heat the entire sample of water to 100C, with resulting heat loss. However, it probably wont scale well as the a larger volume would be shadowed by all the nanoparticles in front.